This interdepartmental training program provides a broadly based predoctoral and postdoctoral education and research experience in hearing, balance and chemical senses. Predoctoral training is based in one of the 14 basic science departments and degree-granting graduate programs with which the 25 training faculty are associated. Doctoral thesis research and postdoctoral research training reside primarily within the laboratory of the mentor. In addition to research training, the program includes a) introductory and advanced courses in sensory systems; b) seminars in hearing, balance and chemical senses with experts from within and outside the University of Michigan; c) student and faculty seminars, journal clubs and research seminars; and d) training in research standards and ethics. Support for 5 predoctoral and 4 postdoctoral trainees is requested. Predoctoral trainees will be selected from the most highly qualified graduate students in the training faculty's affiliated departments and programs. Interest and motivation for research in sensory systems will be an important criterion. Postdoctoral trainees must have a doctoral degree such as a Ph.D. or M.D. and a strong commitment to sensory biology. The program's Admissions Committee and Executive Committee will evaluate professional promise on the strength of prior academic performance, letters of recommendation and publication record. Support is also requested to recruit the deaf minority into biomedical research. The deaf are the largest underrepresented handicapped population in our society, and they are underrepresented in scientific and medical professions. We propose to continue our very successful program for deaf undergraduates, begun in 1990, by training 8 deaf students per year in summer research internships. Faculty members have current research support and well-equipped laboratories offering state-of-the-art methodology in a variety of specialties, including immunological, biochemical, molecular and genetic approaches to sensory systems, intra- and extra-cellular electrophysiological recording, modern morphological and physiological techniques including computerized image analysis, and human and animal psychophysics. Modern AAALAC-accredited animal care facilities are maintained by the Unit of Laboratory Animal Medicine, and the U. of M. computing facilities and libraries are outstanding.
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